Children face a disproportionate share of deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Ebola outbreak as conflict, shrinking aid budgets and disrupted medical services leave families struggling to obtain care. UNICEF reported 743 confirmed cases among children ages 0 to 17 and 330 child deaths as of Aug. 2, 2026. Children accounted for nearly one-quarter of confirmed infections but almost one-third of deaths in that snapshot.

The youngest patients faced the greatest risk. More than 60% of children younger than 5 with confirmed Ebola had died, compared with fewer than 30% of adults, UNICEF said.

Congo’s Health Ministry confirmed the outbreak in northeastern Ituri province on May 15, 2026. Government figures released Sept. 11 showed 7,022 cases and 3,398 deaths through Sept. 10, The Associated Press reported. Authorities also confirmed the virus in Sud-Ubangi, the seventh affected province and the first in western Congo. UNICEF identifies developing immune systems, malnutrition and dependence on caregivers as reasons children younger than 5 face greater danger. The agency also warns that interrupted nutrition services and the loss of caregivers can harm children long after an outbreak.

In Butembo, Dr. Rupa Narra, a pediatrician with Doctors Without Borders, described the demands of caring for young patients in an NPR interview broadcast Sept. 8. Her team gives intravenous fluids and oxygen and manages blood sugar and low body temperature.

She can spend only about an hour at a time in the ward. “I can’t be next to the bedside of this critical child,” Narra told NPR. Finding a caregiver who can safely stay with an infected child poses another challenge, she said.

Outside Ebola wards, families are missing care that prevents other childhood deaths. UNICEF found that use of essential health services fell 42% between April and June 2026 in four Ituri outbreak hotspots. In Mongbwalu, first-dose measles vaccinations dropped 69%. Fear of infection helps keep patients away, while armed clashes interrupt vaccination campaigns and force families to flee, aid agencies say. Doctors Without Borders reported Aug. 14 that hospitals in North Kivu and South Kivu lacked staff, medicines and equipment. Violence had also forced some facilities to suspend work.

Other infections continue to fill wards. In that update, the group said its teams had treated more than 12,050 measles patients and vaccinated more than 283,150 children during six outbreak responses in North Kivu and South Kivu. Displaced families seeking shelter in forests also face greater exposure to mosquitoes that spread malaria, the organization said.

Foreign aid cuts compound those problems. World Health Organization technical officer Luca Fontana said Sept. 8 that donor reductions had limited the organizations available to operate Ebola treatment centers, Reuters reported. Responders had established nearly 1,400 beds across 59 centers, but WHO estimated they needed another 1,600 beds and roughly 5,000 additional health workers.

The Bundibugyo virus causing this outbreak has no approved vaccine or specific treatment. Researchers are testing Ervebo, a vaccine developed against another Ebola virus species. WHO said Sept. 10 that health and frontline workers had started receiving it under research protocols, but its effectiveness against Bundibugyo remains unknown. A separate treatment trial began enrolling patients July 2.

Children face additional obstacles in research. Doctors Without Borders said Sept. 4 that the lack of a version suitable for young children kept those weighing less than 44 pounds, or 20 kilograms, out of an oral antiviral study. The experimental drug, obeldesivir, aims to prevent infection after high-risk exposure. The organization urged drugmakers and researchers to accelerate studies for younger children.

The group has also urged donors to sustain care for other illnesses. “For the families we care for, there is no hierarchy between crises,” Dr. Yvan Mbangi, its deputy medical coordinator in Goma, said in the Aug. 14 update.

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